AWM is a public agency, with a private sector chair and board drawn from private, public and voluntary sectors. It has five Directorates (Finance & Strategy, Sustainable & Rural Development, Development & Economic Inclusion, Enterprise & Innovation, Communications & Corporate Support). In April 2005, it took responsibility for the regional delivery of Business Links.
AWM, with partners, created Regeneration Zones (RZs) as its key delivery mechanism for sustainable regeneration, targeted on the most deprived communities and linked to development opportunities.
Organisational Purpose
Advantage West Midlands (AWM) is one of nine regional development agencies (RDAs). They aim to co-ordinate economic development and regeneration, enable regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the imbalance within and between regions. They have five statutory purposes: to further economic development and regeneration; to promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness; to promote employment; to enhance development and application of skills relevant to employment; and to contribute to sustainable development.
Each RDA produces a Regional Economic Strategy (RES), reviewed every three years. AWM’s RES sets out how it plans to realise its vision to “be recognised as a world-class region in which to invest, work, learn, visit and live and the most successful in creating wealth to benefit all of its people”. Its 2005-06 budget is £272m, rising to £291m in 2007-08.
Common Purpose with LSPs
- AWM is concerned with meeting economic objectives. It works to ensure that disadvantaged groups and communities benefit from its activities, with a focus on most deprived areas – RZs, market towns and some coalfield areas.
- RDA performance is assessed in relation to national PSA targets for sustainable improvements in the performance of all English regions by 2008, promoting sustainable development, raising national productivity growth, reducing the productivity gap for less well performing rural areas, and improving rural service accessibility.
- RDAs contribute towards national Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets on Employment, Enterprise and Neighbourhood Renewal.
Drivers
RDA targets are agreed with the Department of Trade and Industry and Government Office for the West Midlands. Progress is reviewed quarterly with GOWM. Qualitative assessment includes its role as a strategic catalyst, how it has contributed to policy development and how effective it is in collaborating with other RDAs. In addition, the West Midlands Regional Assembly (WMRA) has a scrutiny duty, managing (in conjunction with GOWM) annual reviews of AWM. AWM has a statutory duty “to consult and have regard to the views” of WMRA.
RDAs have a tiered performance reporting system: Tier 1 – higher order objectives, eg, promoting social cohesion and sustainable development through integrated local programmes; Tier 2 - outcomes including work with LSPs to achieve neighbourhood renewal by promoting economic development and investment in the most deprived areas; Tier 3 - milestones (outputs), eg, supporting the creation of X number of businesses.
- Success for AWM depends on working effectively and co-ordinating activity with a wide range of partners who address the region’s economic, social and environmental well-being.
- AWM involvement helps maintain LSP focus on economic objectives (recognised by the recent Strategy Unit review of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal as an under-developed area).
- AWM’s corporate plan includes work on economic inclusion in which it supports and complements the activity of its partners, especially in enabling excluded and disadvantaged people access jobs and training opportunities, and in ensuring that communities have the capacity to participate in regeneration activity.
Relationships with other Partnerships
- Regional Skills Partnership
- High Technology Corridor partnerships
- West Midlands Regional Skills Partnership
- Cluster Opportunity Groups
- Sub-regional partnerships (eg, Black Country Consortium)
- Sustainability West Midlands
More Information
Other things you need to know
Under the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister’s Sustainable Communities Plan, AWM and emda (East Midlands Development Agency) have combined with regional partners to produce a joint response, The Midlands Way.
RDAs are financed through a ‘Single Programme’ which replaced funding programmes from individual Government Departments.
AWM is host to RegenWM, the regional centre for excellence, promoting good practice and better skills in regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.
Find out more:
Advantage West Midlandswww.advantagewm.co.uk/index.html
DTI (with links to RDA Tasking Framework)
http://www.dti.gov.uk/regional/regional-dev-agencies/index.html
HM Treasury (2004) Devolving Decision Making Review
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget/budget_04/associated_documents/bud_bud04_addevolved2.cfm
